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i'm in the process of getting natural dreads. obviously this will involve long periods between washing my hair and when i do it will be with residue free shampoo. i've been using this shampoo for a while now anyway w/straight hair and it leaves my hair smelling like it hasn't been washed. if i know that i'm going to be around the ladies i end up using scented shampoo. i can't be doing this anymore, but don't want my funky hair turning off the ladies either.
what do ya'll do for making your hair smell fresh n clean? i remember reading about someone that used incense on their dreads.
what do ya'll do for making your hair smell fresh n clean? i remember reading about someone that used incense on their dreads.
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Re: smell
Tue, July 28, 2009 - 5:42 PMyou got to be careful putting too much essential oil into your hair as it can cause problems. You might be going with the natural approach but this is no reason to wash your dreads infrequently. In my opinion - once a week is good. If you can last two then be my guest but I wash weekly unless its really really cold that week (winter atm).
I have used dreadheadhq shampoo for 7 months and it really doesnt have much of a scent. We live on a rural property now where we shower in dam water. It doesnt smell the best. So I come out of a shower nice and clean and yet i stink (i even have a can of air freshener in the shower that i spray because the water smells so much).
Anyway, last week when i washed my hair, i decided to try soap-free baby shampoo. i have an 8 month old daughter and my dreadhead shampoo was running low. I have to admit, i was pleasantly surprised with the baby shampoo. my scalp felt so much cleaner and my dreads afterwards feel so much tighter and the feel of them is amazing. They havent softened up at all. And they smelt pleasant.
So, I'm now switching to soap-free baby shampoo which is even less than half the price of dreadheadhq! -
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Re: smell
Tue, July 28, 2009 - 5:54 PMCool. the brand I used was Am-o-lin. think you can get it at most places like coles and woolies
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Re: smell
Tue, July 28, 2009 - 5:43 PMHI mitty :)
Yeah, scented shampoo's a no-no now. I use Dreadhead shampoo, and my hair smells clean, but because the stuff has no scent, my hair just smells like hair, pretty neutral. I love the idea of incense! Just burning it around your locks would make them smell awesome! :D
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Re: smell
Tue, July 28, 2009 - 7:19 PMYou could also do a tea rinse...just fix up a pot full of tea, dilute it down with some cold water and rinse away...you could even use chamomile or mints, if you like...no residue and a nice scent of nature...:-) -
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Re: smell
Tue, July 28, 2009 - 7:25 PMhadn't heard of tea rinse before. do you use generic stuff like lipton?
i googled tea rinse and came across this-
braids4grow.blogspot.com/2008/...e.html
looks like tea rinse specifically for hair. my broke ass wants go ahead and just use lipton :) -
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Re: smell
Tue, July 28, 2009 - 9:58 PMOh, ye, you could use regular tea with no problem...don't go buying something that you can easily make on your own!
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Re: smell
Wed, July 29, 2009 - 5:18 PMAny shampoo that contains sodium laureth sulfate is a general no-no for dreaded hair. I have done a little research and even discovered Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo contains sodium laureth sulfate!!!!! So, we cant just assume that any soap-free baby shampoo can be used.
The am-o-lin Baby Shampoo that I used does not contain sodium laureth sulfate. It does smell like baby though and you probably wouldnt want to walk around smelling like baby......... or would you? It could actually work in your favour to attract the women. After all what woman doesnt like the smell of a clean, POOP-FREE baby? hee hee hee
Neutrogena also has a product called anti-residue shampoo www.neutrogena.com/econsume...il.browse
never used it though so I really cant recommend a product that i havent used. But there are other shampoos out there that you could try that might have a bit of a scent to them.
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Re: smell
Thu, July 30, 2009 - 9:29 AMwhat makes the scent from shampoo "stick" to your hair is residue. try washing your hands with the soap; if, after thoroughly rinsing, the smell is there, it left residue. incense smoke is good, but i've smelt it in hair that was naturally very oily, and when used a lot, without regular washing (less than every other week), it began smelling something like funky maple syrup, so just be aware. teas can be brewed with mint, lavender, catnip, and you can throw some supercrushed sea salt in there for extra tightness (nice when your landlocked!). i'm going to try earl grey next.
real quick, mitty- what do you consider "long periods" of not washing? -
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Re: smell
Thu, July 30, 2009 - 10:08 AMI like lavender and spearmint...such a lovely, relaxing scent...:-)
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Re: smell
Thu, July 30, 2009 - 11:04 AMwell @ the moment i would say that once a week is pretty long for me because of smell. it's just not conducive to my lifestyle right now. i work out almost every day and my hair gets greasy. i am aiming for once a month once i get this smell thing figured out.
would you say that once a month is ideal for natural dreading? -
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Re: smell
Thu, July 30, 2009 - 12:17 PMnot if your hair is superoily. oil will slow down the dreading process. you could just rinse with water. the important part of washing your hair is that your scalp gets clean, since that's where the oil comes from; without the oil on the strands, your hair will get smelly much slower. until recently, when i washed, i mostly just parted my hair and gently applied the shampoo to the scalp; the rinsing process then washes all the soap down the rest of the hair. (also, a little bit of sweat, if it isn't smelly, is good for the locking- think saltwater..) -
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Re: smell
Thu, July 30, 2009 - 3:41 PMIf its oiliness and sweat you are suffering from, then you will need to wash your hair frequently. Perhaps try a homemade concoction. Baking soda and apple cider vinegar mix is going to work a treat and give your scalp a great cleaning. baking soda and apple cider vinegar are great deodorisers.
baking soda and acv recipe-
ingredients:
3/4 cup baking soda
small handful sea salt
2 tablespoons Apple cider vinegar
Warm - Hot water
Large plastic basin/bucket
* 4 drops essential oil is optional for scent.
mixall the ingredients into the large basin/bucket, fill the rest of the largish basin with fairly warm water to disolve & mix the contents, kneel on the floor and tip head upside down and put all your dreads and most of scalp in the solution, use a cup to rinse the solotion through the dreads at the back that weren't in the water, sloshed your head around and squeeze the solution through the dreads a few times, leave mixture in dreads for about 10 minutes and rub your scalp.
Rinse, squeeze, towel and leave dreads to dry,
Thyme is great for combating oiliness, so perhaps try making some of that thyme tea rinse for your hair. Its pretty simple and not a whole lot of money is needed. Use after washings/
thyme tea recipe-
ingredients:
1/2 cup dried thyme,
4 cups water
method:
Turn on the tap to cold water and let it run a few seconds. This ensures the water is fully aerated (water sitting in the pipes loses oxygen). Add water to pot and bring to boil. Add dried thyme. Boil the two ingredients for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let the tea brew three to five minutes. Longer will be stronger. Strain using a cheesecloth and let cool.
how to use:
Apply the solution to recently washed dreadlocks. Make sure you rinse it off thoroughly with a lot of cool or tepid water within 20 minutes
you might choose not to try them - but they are there for ideas.
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Re: smell
Thu, July 30, 2009 - 3:46 PMi have to also add that i wouldnt try to go more than 2 weeks without washing your dreads in any circumstances. Even if you are going the natural method - clean hair still knots up more easily than dirty hair. Dirty, greasy hair is too slippery to actually form knots.If you work in a greasy environment, or are a smoker or work out lots, than you should be washing your hair once a week at the minimum.
thats my opinion though.
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Re: smell
Fri, July 31, 2009 - 2:32 PMthanks for all the info, will def be useful.
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Re: smell
Thu, September 17, 2009 - 2:41 AMmy buddy says he soaks his in rubbing alcohol .. Im scared to try it ... I have a new set of dreads and I wash them daily as Im a germ phobe ... despie the fact I find they are getting tighter by the day... Ive also heard T -gel by nurtagena works but I havnt tried it yet -
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Re: smell
Thu, September 17, 2009 - 5:13 AMBwahaha! Now, that would be interesting if I tried it...I'm allergic to rubbing alcohol...the fumes get in my head and I'm out like a light! :-p
The T-Gel might be okay, but it's more for really oily or dandruff prone hair...and the non-residue Neutrogena is really a clarifying shampoo...it will remove build-up from other products, but still might be a bit too harsh for regular use.
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Re: smell
Sat, September 19, 2009 - 10:16 AMI've done rubbing alcohol for three consecutive nights, once, when my daughter brought home head lice, as a precaution. I dumped it in, then put a shower cap on, for three or four hours. Still, it wouldn't be a good idea, if you're sensitive to the smell; when I took the cap off, the smell was a bit overwhelming. It didn't dry out my scalp, though, which I was afraid of, because I mild psoriasis on my scalp. I can't say if it helped the smell, though. -
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Re: smell
Sat, September 19, 2009 - 2:45 PMyea i would be concerned about my scalp drying out with rubbing alcohol. in any case i've kind of given up on using all natural non scented shampoo every time i shower. it's just not worth it. i figure what happens, happens with my hair. at the rate i'm going tho it doesn't look like my asian ass will have dreads any time soon. -
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Re: smell
Sun, September 20, 2009 - 5:57 PMWhy don't you post some progress pics? Some hair does take longer. I know I was looking at an asian friend's hair last night (as I was absolutely adoring him..), and I wondered how difficult it would be to get his hair to lock up- since I'm always trying to convince people to go through with it, once expressed an interest. On the other hand, maybe you're farther along than you thought! I still break out my aveda scented shampoo from time to time, too!
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Re: smell
Sun, September 20, 2009 - 7:30 PMAsian hair really can be difficult to work with...it has one of the most resistant textures there is...it's very hard to get it to take a permanent wave and is also quite hard to lighten, since it is a true black.
If you had not already started on your dreads, I would have recommended that you go to a good stylist and gotten them to put a perm in your hair to give it a rougher texture and to make it 'grab' when you back-combed it. I'd usually NOT recommend such, but with the strength of Asian hair, it is not nearly as damaging as you might think, as long as you didn't get someone that rolled the rods so tight that you ended up with breakage.
I can't say this, for sure, but you could possibly get a perm solution and apply it to your dreads, then do light palm rolling while it's on your hair...you don't want to get too vigorous, because it IS a chemical. Let it process for the amount of time recommended...rinse, rinse, and then rinse some more, and follow with the neutraliser. Rinse the immortal hell out of it, then use a good, absorbent towel to get as much of the moisture out as you possibly can. This should give your hair a more workable texture and the parts that are already dreaded will be set in the current formation.
BUT...if you have any kind of allergies to the ingredients in the solution, do not try it! You don't want to end up with a blistered scalp! I'd recommend doing a patch test with the solution on the inside of your elbow, first...this way, if there is any kind of reaction, you know not to use it on your head. -
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Re: smell
Mon, September 21, 2009 - 12:23 PMI have heard storys of stylist applying what is called dread perm... Ive also seen a few pics and these people have what appear to be fully developed dreads in just days... Ive also heard that these so called dread perms are damaging and should only be used on resistant hair... mine is curly like a jew so I dont need that shit LOL -
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Re: smell
Mon, September 21, 2009 - 2:25 PMi just wiki'd dread perming. sounds like a silver bullet for asian hair. very tempting. one drawback is that it says u need to maintain it every 6 months. what i gathered from that is that u need to treat it with chemicals every 6 months which is not cool at all. i figure u do the chemical treatment to get the hair to lock up and then palm rolling can take it from there. -
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Re: smell
Mon, September 21, 2009 - 2:31 PMWow, you beat me to the punch, Mitty!
Considering that you have all these older ladies that get perms in their hair on a time frame of about every three months, I'd say that 6 month intervals wouldn't be bad, at all. Yes, it involves chemicals, but with the advances in perm technology, those chemicals are not nearly as bad as they used to be. I won't ever get another one or do another one, but that's simply personal preference and has nothing to do with the chemicals involved. Mine is basically cuz I ended up with every person that walked into the salon that had hair down to their arse and would have to spend up to 6 hrs rolling, processing and putting the poor clients thru the torture of having to try to lean back into a shampoo bowl with about 10 pounds of perm rods piled on their head! Hell, you were lucky if you could get them leaned back without breaking their necks! -
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Re: smell
Mon, September 21, 2009 - 3:35 PMthanks for all the info rebekah. with a dread perm tho, wouldn't it be sufficient to get the chemical treatment done, say perhaps 3 times during the course of 6 months in order to get the texture right. and then backcomb and palm roll to get the hair to lock up. i would NOT be down for having to make an appointment every 6 months. -
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Re: smell
Tue, September 22, 2009 - 8:43 AMWell, even with the relative 'toughness' of Asian hair, it wouldn't be a good idea to do it that often. You don't want your hair to start breaking off at the roots, which is what would happen if you over-processed it. You might even get away with only having to do it one time, cuz once you get the dreads established well, you shouldn't have as much of an issue getting the virgin hair to lock in.
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Re: smell
Mon, September 21, 2009 - 2:26 PMI'm not sure what that entails, but I've heard of it, too.
Basically, what the method I talked about would do is reform the structure of the hair, so that the already dreaded hair would stay in place, and the parts that aren't so well dreaded would have more of a workable texture, so that it would be more likely to grab in with the better dreaded parts. Does that make sense?
Curly hair is great for dreading! Asian hair, however, is so very resistant to anything other than staying right where it's at, that it takes some majour work to get it to do what you want. Of all the people I ever did perms on, the ones with Asian hair were the hardest to work with...it's really, really hard to get it to even stay on a perm rod...the ends want to pop out like crazy! But it's generally wonderful, once you actually get done...a much softer and more easily styled texture.
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